The Present Disclosure relates, generally, to a connector.
Conventionally, in personal electronic equipment, in order to handle the greater miniaturization and increased performance of the devices and components, demands have been made of connectors too for greater miniaturization and higher density. In order to meet these demands, there have been proposals to form a plurality of conductor patterns upon insulating substrates and provide connectors that connect the ends of these conductor patterns to other substrates and the like. An example is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2007-114710, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a conventional connector. In the figure, 911 is a male-side body serving as the body of the male connector, mounted to the surface of a circuit board (not shown). Upon the male-side body 911 are formed terminal-enclosing openings 954 that communicate between the front and rear surfaces of the male-side body 911, and within the terminal-enclosing openings 954 are disposed a plurality of male-side electrode patterns 951 lined up in the lateral direction at a stipulated spacing. Each male-side electrode pattern 951 is provided with a tail portion 958 extending toward the outside of the male-side body 911, and each tail portion 958 is electrically connected to a conductor trace of the electrical circuits formed on the surface of the circuit board. In addition, each male-side electrode pattern 951 is provided with an arm portion 953 that demarcates an inside opening 954a and the periphery of the inside opening 954a. Moreover, the inside opening 954a is provided with a narrow portion having a narrow width and a wide portion having a wide width formed in the vicinity of the narrow portion.
Moreover, in the initial stage of the mating process, a male connector (not shown) is moved with respect to the female connector in the direction of the thickness of the female connector (the direction perpendicular to the drawing) and mates. At this time, bump-shaped male-side electrode protrusions (not shown) that protrude from the surface of the female connector enter into the wide portions of the inside openings 954a. Then, when the male connector is moved with respect to the female connector in the longitudinal direction in the Figure, the male-side electrode protrusions move into the narrow portions. Thereby the mating of the male connector and the female connector is complete.
However, in the conventional connector, due to the effects of tolerances in manufacture and the like, positioning errors in the male-side electrode protrusions and positioning errors in the terminal-enclosing openings 954 of the male-side electrode patterns 951 may occur. If such positioning errors occur, there is a risk of excessive shaving or deformation of the male-side electrode protrusions or terminal-enclosing openings 954 occurring. In particular, as the electrodes are miniaturized or given higher densities accompanying progress in the miniaturization or increase in density of connectors, the problems arising due to positioning errors related to the dimensions and positions of electrodes become greater.